Office brandingideas

• It is not a poster of values hung on a wall and forgotten.
• It is not a copy of a famous office. Your people, work and space are different.
• It is not only decoration. Signs that help people find their way are part of it.
• It is not a one-day job. It needs care when you add a floor, a team or a new service.

Gallup's 2016 article says leaders must make purpose statements more than words on a wall, and make sure staff can relate them to their own work. So the test for any wall is not whether it looks nice. The test is whether it helps a person see how their own work links to the company. Gallup did not study walls, so we use its findings as a reason to be clear, not as a promise that paint changes minds.

Visitors. Customers, suppliers and guests judge you in the first minute. India's barrier-free building guidelines, which we read, say that signs tell people about a building's identity and add to the first impression. Clean, clear and steady signs say you pay attention to detail.

Hiring. A candidate who comes for an interview sees your reception, your walls and your people before they see an offer letter. If your employee value proposition promises learning and respect, the office should show it. Our guide to employer branding in India explains the wider picture.

Here is a simple way to do it.

• Ask eight staff from different teams to describe the company in three words each.
• Count which words repeat. Keep the three you hear most and can stand behind.
• Turn each word into an action. "Honest" becomes "We tell customers the real delivery date". "Excellence" becomes nothing, because nobody can check it.
• For every wall idea, ask which of the three words it serves and what proof you can show next to it.
• Drop any idea that serves none of the three.

Say a packaging company with sixty staff chooses "on time", "honest" and "careful". This example is made up. Its main wall shows one real order from the first call to delivery, with the date promised and the date delivered. A sign that only says "Excellence" would tell the visitor nothing.

• Logo. List the versions you allow, such as colour, black and white, and a small icon. State the empty space around it and the smallest size.
• Colours. Choose two main colours and one or two helper colours. Write them with their codes so every printer uses the same ones.
• Letters. Pick one style for headings and one for small text. Use them on walls, doors and signs.
• Words. Write in the voice you use with customers. Short and plain beats grand.
• Pictures. Use real staff, real products and real customers where you can. Stock pictures of smiling strangers add nothing.

Colours look different on a screen, on vinyl and on paint. Ask for a printed sample and look at it in the real room, in daylight and under the office lights, before you approve.

One more point from the barrier-free guidelines. They advise against using the same colours as safety signs for other signs, because people may mistake them. If your brand colour is a bright red or green, keep your wall graphics clearly different from fire and exit signs.

This is the single most important spot. Visitors wait here, and staff pass it every day.

• Put the logo behind the desk at eye level or above. Letters cut in acrylic or similar material look sharp, and our acrylic sign boards page shows the choices.
• Add one line on what you do, in plain words a customer would use.
• Keep the desk tidy. A few brochures, one plant and a clock are enough.
• Use good light on the logo wall. A dim logo looks careless.
• Show a few real pictures of your work, changed every few months.

The main wall

Pick one idea and do it well. Three examples:

• Your three words, each with a real proof, such as a delivery record, a customer letter or a staff story.
• A short timeline of the company, with dates you can prove.
• A wall of the people, with names, roles and the years they have been with you.

Keep the text short enough to read while walking. Print words large. Leave empty space around them.

Meeting rooms

• Name rooms after something true to your work, such as products, places you serve or old machines. Avoid random names.
• Hang one real item per room: a product, a part, a customer drawing or a map.
• Keep colours and letters the same as in the rest of the office, so the rooms feel like one company.
• Put a small sign outside each door with the room name and the booking status if you use one.

Workspaces

People look at these walls for hours, so go gentle.

• Use small items: a team board, a wall for the current project and a place for staff notes.
• Let teams add their own pictures within a simple rule, so the space does not turn into clutter.
• Add plants and good light. These often do more for a workspace than a slogan does.
• Avoid large faces and loud words right above desks.

Pantry and break areas

• Use this space for warmth. Staff pictures from events, birthdays and festivals work well, if the people agree to be shown.
• A map with pins showing where your customers or sites are can start good talk over tea.
• Keep notices tidy. One board, cleared every month, beats ten sheets of old paper.

Entrance and outdoor sign

The outside is the first thing people see. Make the name easy to read from a distance, well lit and the same as the name inside. Our signage and retail branding page covers boards and signs.

• The barrier-free guidelines group fascia signs and house numbers as long-distance signs. They need larger letters than room signs.
• Ask who owns the front wall. In many buildings the society, the owner or a local body decides what can go outside.
• Check local building and fire rules before you fix a board, a light or a frame. We do not state any rule here, because rules differ by city and building.
• Keep the board clean and the lights working. A dead light bulb on a sign hurts the brand.

Glass

• A frosted band at eye level on glass doors and partitions adds privacy and shows the logo. It also helps people avoid walking into glass.
• A small logo or room name on the door is enough. A full wall of graphics on glass can block light and view.
• Never cover exit doors, exit signs or fire equipment.
• Check how the film will come off. Ask the installer before you choose.

Floors and wayfinding

Wayfinding means the signs that help people find their way. The Ministry of Urban Development's barrier-free guidelines, in the 2016 edition we read, give a useful checklist for any office.

• Put signs at junctions, doorways, the reception, lifts and stairs.
• Use the same names for a place on every sign. Do not call a room "Conference" on one floor and "Board room" on the next.
• Make letters contrast with the sign and the sign contrast with the wall.
• Prefer a plain sans serif letter style, with both capitals and small letters.
• Use a matt finish, because glare makes signs hard to read.
• Pair pictures with words. A picture alone can confuse, and words alone fail people who read another language.

These guidelines were replaced by a 2021 edition, which the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced on 27 December 2021. We read the 2016 text, so check the current one with your architect or designer before you fix signs.

• Read the lease. Look for words on painting, fixing things to walls, signs, glass and the state in which you must return the space.
• Ask in writing. Send the owner or building manager a short note with a picture of your plan, and keep the reply.
• Choose removable materials. Wall vinyl, framed pieces, free-standing boards and film on glass come off more easily than drilled or painted work. Ask the installer how each will be removed.
• Test first. Put a small patch of the material in a hidden corner. Check whether paint peels or the wall marks when it comes off.
• Take photos. Photograph every wall before you start, with the date on them.
• Agree who pays for removal. Put it in writing, so no bill surprises you at the end.
• Check the building and fire rules. The National Building Code of India, published by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), is a model code that includes fire safety requirements. Your city and your building decide which rules apply. Ask the building owner and the local fire officer, and do not cover exit routes, exit signs or fire equipment.
• Think of moving. Free-standing items and framed art move with you. Painted logos and glued letters do not.

• Stage 1: clean up, no new fixtures. Remove old posters and broken signs. Fix lights. Repaint a worn wall in your main colour. Tidy the reception.
• Stage 2: the places people see first. One main wall, the reception logo, door and room signs, and a name board that matches. This stage does most of the work.
• Stage 3: the extras. Glass film, floor and lift signs, the outdoor sign upgrade and pantry walls.

What changes the price: wall size, material, lighting, number of floors, how hard the place is to reach, and who handles building permission. When you ask for a quote, ask for a written list with material, size, number of pieces, installation and removal. Compare quotes on that list, not on the total alone.

• Use the same colours, logo and words in email signatures, video call backgrounds, slide templates and welcome kits.
• Send new joiners a small kit with a printed card of your three words and what each means in daily work.
• Share photos of the office wall and of staff in the field on your internal chat, and ask them to share their own.
• Hold events at the office on days when most people can come, and make the wall part of the welcome.
• Put real photos of your office on your careers page. See our corporate photography page if you need help with pictures.